When a COVID-19 survivor leaves the hospital, recovering physically may not be the only feat they’re faced with overcoming. For many patients who have undergone intensive care, studies have shown that there is also a likelihood for cognitive and psychological complications, which can linger for months, or even years.

The COVID-19 patients may be flooding some hospital systems across our nation presently. However, the reality is they will soon need post-acute rehabilitative care, and we as care providers need to be ready to serve them.

Our acute-care counterparts are working tirelessly on improved care and survival rates while also initiating the recovery process.

As a result, many post-acute care providers are left asking themselves the following questions:

“What is the best practice for treating the COVID-19 patient?”

“What are the long-term impacts of the disease?”

“What is length of stay of the recovery process going to look like?”

The Post-Intensive Care Syndrome and COVID-19: Crisis after a Crisis? study says, “At least 20% of the COVID-19 patients are reported to require supportive care in the critical care units. Patients infected with COVID-19 who are admitted to critical care often need 10 days of supportive care utilizing mechanical ventilation.”

Since workers’ compensation represents only between one and two percent of the overall medical spend, insurers, employers and third-party administrators will not see a huge number of COVID-19 claims with ICU treatment. However, the seriously ill workers they do see may suffer from post-intensive care syndrome or PICS.